Home
Surname List
Name Index
Sources
Email Us |
First Generation
1. Nicholas ACKLEY1,2,3
was born about 1635.4,5,6,7 Birth records: United States/Europe 900-1880 has England
as birth place others have birth place as Wales
LDS has birth place as England
U.S./Internat'l Marriage Records, 1340-1980 has birth place as England
Compendium of American Genealogy, 1600s-1800s has birth place as Wales He was
living about 1655 in Hartford, Hartford , Connecticut.8,9 He purchased
land about 1662 in Haddam, Middlesex, Connecticut9 He lived at lot No. 42 Trumbull street in Hartford,
Hartford , Connecticut about 1665.2
He purchased land on 19 Mar 1667 in Hartford, Hartford , Connecticut10 purchased from Robert Sanford
He was living about 1668 in Haddam, Middlesex, Connecticut.8,11 Colonial
America CT Census has name as Acly, Necalas He died on 29 Apr 1695 in East Haddam,
Middlesex , Connecticut.5,8,9,12,13,14,15,16,17 Ackley,
Nicholas, of Haddam, died April 29, 1695. He left a widow and. children, John,
Nathaniel, James, Hannah, Mary, Sarah and Lydia-perhaps another son. He moved
from Hartford to Haddam. (For Ashley, p. 13, read Ackley.-.'-see P. 110.) He
had his estate probated about 1695 in Hartford, Hartford , Connecticut.12 Name: Nicholas Ackley Location:
Haddam
Died 29 April, 1695. Invt. œ188-11-00. Taken 8 May, 1695, by John Scovel,
John Bate, Alexander Rooly (Rollo). The children--5 Sons: John, Thomas, Nathaniel,
James, Samuel; and 5 daughters: Hanna, Elizabeth, Sarah, Mary & Lydia.
Court Record, Page 89--5 September, 1695: Adms. to John Ackley.
Page 97--20 March, 1696: An Agreement between the Widow & Children of Nicholas
Ackley, which this Court approve.
Dist, on File: To the Mother-in-law œ12 and her own Estate that she brought
to the House; the Eldest son a double share, and each of the others a single
share. Signed:
Witness: John Chapman, Abel Shaylor.
Miriam Ackley, James Ackley, Thomas Ackley, Elizabeth X Shalor, Nathaniel Ackley,
Hanna X Purple, John Ackley, Mary X Beppin, Samuel Ackley, Sarah Spencer, Lydia
Robinson, wife of Thomas Robinson
He The History of Middlesex County 1635-1885 about 1884.18 The History of Middlesex County 1635-1885
J. H. Beers & Co., 36 Vesey Street, New York
1884
Pages 368 - 417
TOWN OF HADDAM.
BY RICHARD M. BAYLES.
[transcribed by Janece Streig]
GEOGRAPHICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE.
This town lies upon the Connecticut River, and is the only township
in the State that is bi-sected by that water. Salmon River forming a part of
its eastern boundary, it includes what is known as Haddam Neck upon the east
side of the Connecticut. The town is bounded on the north my Middletown and Chatham;
on the east by East Haddam; on the south by Chester and Killingworth; and on
the west by Killingworth and Durham. Its location is central in the county, and
the county is central in the State.
The town contains four railroad stations, on the Connecticut Valley
Railroad, viz.: Higganum, Haddam, Arnold's and Goodspeeds; four post offices:
Haddam, Higganum, Haddam Neck, and Tylerville; eight churches; and fourteen school
districts.
Extensive flats of natural meadow of apparently exhaustless fertility
skirt the river at Haddam, on the west side, and opposite Shailerville and Higganum
on the east side. The town contains about 30,000 acres. That part of it lying
on the west side of the river was formerly called Haddam Society, that on the
east side Haddam Neck, and a section in the northwest part, which has since been
joined to Durham, Haddam Quarter.
The surface of this town on both sides of the river rises into hills,
which, with the intervening valleys, form a succession of varying undulations.
The elevations reach from 200 to 300 feet in height, though their average is
less. The "Strait Hills" run across the northwestern part, and another
range runs nearly parallel with them. "Long Hill" lies back of the
hills near the river, below Mill Creek, and stretches away toward "Turkey
Hill," in the southern part of the town. These ranges of hills, in a general
way, extend nearly north and south. The rocks of this town have yielded valuable
specimens of the precious minerals. Among these are beryl, garnet, black tourmaline
or schorl, pyrites, and quartz crystals. Many rich specimens from here have been
secured for the museum of Yale College and private collections without number.
The surface of the town is traversed by a number of small streams.
The largest of these is Higganum River, called in the early days of the settlement
"Tom Hegganumpos." It has three branches: the northern branch, called
the Shopboard Brook, the middle or west branch, called also the Candlewood Hill
Brook, and the south or Ponsett Stream. The first rises in Middletown, the second
in the northeastern part of Killingworth, and the third in the western part of
this town. Just below the junction of the three branches the water has a very
abrupt descent of 30 feet, through a rocky gorge less than 30 rods in length.
Mill River is another considerable stream, which rises in the southern
part of the town and after receiving the waters of Beaver Brook flows eastward
into the Connecticut. This stream takes its name from the fact that upon it was
erected the first corn mill in the town.
The soil of this town is generally good, but the surface is for the
most part too hilly and rocky for cultivation. The southern part of the town
is sandy, especially in the neighborhood of the river. In some of the intervals
along the streams there are tracts of level and productive land.
One of the most remarkable rocks in the town is that known by the singular
name of Shopboard rock. It is about half a mile above the village of Higganum.
The rock presents a bare, worn, and sloping surface about 60 feet high and 75
feet across. Tradition says that the name was derived from the circumstance that
a tailor once cut a suit of clothes on it for a customer whom he met at the place,
and the stream flowing by it was names Shopboard Brook.
From the fact that the name appears on the records as early as 1713,
the event in which it originated must have taken place at a very early date.
Two islands lie in the middle of the river opposite this town. These
are Lord's Island, called by the early settlers Twenty Mile Island, from the
fact that it was supposed to be 20 miles from the river's mouth, and Haddam Island,
in the same way called Thirty Mile Island. The first is on the line between this
town and Chester, only the upper end of it being abreast of this town. The second
lies between Haddam Centre and Higganum. The distances suggested by their names
are considerably in excess of the truth, and they are not 10 miles apart. Haddam
Island, which is entirely within the limits of this town, was for many years
one of the most valuable fishing stations on the river. The water upon the east
side of the island was deep and much frequented by fish, and being narrow, was
easily swept with a seine. Two fishing companies, one at either end, occupy it
for this purpose. Legends exist that some of KIDD's fabulous treasurer were deposited
on this island, and many seekers after hidden wealth have dug for it here.
The following turnpikes have been in operation in this town: The Middlesex
Turnpike, along the river, chartered in 1802, and abandoned since the completion
of the railroad; the Haddam and Durham Turnpike, running from Higganum to Durham,
chartered in 1815, abandoned nearly 50 years ago; the Haddam & Killingworth
Turnpike, chartered in 1813, from Higganum to Killingworth; and a branch of the
latter, diverging from it in the Burr District, and running to Haddam Centre
through Beaver Meadow, granted in 1815. All these have been abandoned for several
years.
The town is remarkably healthy, as shown by its mortuary records, though
it has been visited by several severe and fatal epidemics.
The latest grand levy shows the town to contain 480 houses; 21,890
¾ acres of land; 31 mills, stores, etc.; 192 horses; 1,012 neat cattle;
sheep valued at $557; 39 carriages and wagons subject to tax; clocks and watches
valued at $840; musical instruments to the value of $2,825; bank, insurance,
and manufacturing stock held to the amount of $81,917; railroad and other corporation
bonds, $6,600, etc. During the previous year the amount expended on roads and
bridges was $2,789.09.
PURCHASE AND SETTLEMENT.
The first purchase or occupancy of any of the land within the limits
of this town by Englishmen, of which there is any account, was about 1652, when
Captain John CULLICK, who had for some time been secretary of the colony of Connecticut,
having extinguished the Indian title, obtained a confirmatory grant for what
was then called Twenty Mile Island, now LORD's Island, and a tract on the east
side of the river near it, the dimensions of which are not given. CULLICK had
probably made little or no improvement upon his land previous to the settlement
of Haddam.
The locality and afterward the newly organized town, took its name
from Thirty Mile Island. Individuals contemplated making a settlement here as
early as 1660, and in October of that year the Legislature accordingly appointed
a committee to purchase the lands from the Indians. For some unknown reason the
negotiation was not consummated until nearly two years later. The desired purchase
was finally made on the 20th of May 1662, when the committee above referred to,
consisting of Matthew ALLYN and Samuel WILLYS, obtained from four kings and two
queens of the Indian tribes that occupied them a deed for these lands. The value
of the articles given in payment would probably not exceed $100. The territory
extended from "Mattabeseck mill river," a stream afterward called Miller's
Brook or Sumner's Creek, substantially on the line between the subsequent towns
of Chatham and Haddam on the north, down to "Pattaquounk" Meadow, which
is now called the Cove Meadow, at Chester.
Soon after this purchase, a company of 28 men from Hartford, Windsor,
and Wethersfield, in whose behalf the purchase had been made, entered upon the
land and commenced improvement. These men were: Nicholas ACKLEY, Joseph ARNOLD,
Daniel BRAINERD, Thomas BROOKS, Daniel CONE, George GATES, Thomas SHAILER, Gerrard
SPENCER, John SPENCER, William VENTRES, John BAILEY, William CLARKE, Simon SMITH,
James WELLS, James BATES, Samuel BUTLER, William CORBEE, Abraham DIBBLE, Samuel
GANES, John HANNISON, Richard JONES, Stephen LUXFORD, John PARENTS, Richard PIPER,
Thomas SMITH, Joseph STANNARD, John WEBB, and John WYATT. The first 10 as here
named are known to have come from Hartford, while the places whence the others
severally came are not definitely known.
They are supposed to have been mostly young men, many of whom were
just married. They paid back the expense of the purchase of installments as they
were able. Some part of the amount seems to have remained unpaid for several
years. March 13th 1669, the town voted to pay to James INSIGNE, of Hartford,
38 shillings, 6 pence, which the record says was part of the purchase money of
the plantation. The whole number of those whose names appear as the founders
of the settlement did not come here at once, but remained at some other place,
where, perhaps, business or some other attraction detained them for a greater
or less period of time. Indeed, it is possible that a few of them never settled
here at all, but sold out their interest to others; and of those who did settle
there were some who remained but a short time. Some of them were so slow in improving
their rights here that the action of the society appeared necessary to prompt
them. Nicholas ACKLEY, for example, was so far delinquent that the little colony
took such action in his case that resulted in obtaining the following covenant
from him to assure them that he would in fact become one of them:
"This writing made ye eight off november 1666 bindeth me niklis
AKLEY of Hartford to come with fy ffamely to setle att thirte mille Iland by
ye twenty ninth of october next inseuing date hereof, ealso to have my part of
fence up yt belong to my home lot by he Last of --- nexst inseuing as of failing
hereof to forfit ten pound to ye inhabitant of thirte mile Iland as wines my
hand and Seall.
"Nicholas ACKLY
"witness James BATE."
It is probable that the settlement progressed but slowly and no formal
or systematic organization of the society was effected within three or four years
from the date of the purchase. If anything was done in this direction no record
of it remains. One of the earliest scraps of evidence extant in regard to organizing
the settlement on a basis looking toward the establishment of permanent homes
for individuals is the following"
"may sixty-six --- whom it may consearne --- ---- ----- written
was apyntted by the Gennarl Corte of Connecticut a Committee to Plant the Plantasion
at thirty mile Island or to order the planting of the sayde Plantasion and accordingly
we did Promote the planting of the sayd Place what in us lay, and in order thearto
we did make a purchase of the Indians of such Lands as we thought convenient
for the Peopell that should inhabit the said p'antasion and that land which we
did intend for thirty mile Island Plantasion ----- that land from Midleton boundes
to the sowth [towards] the end of the purchas which if we mistake not runnes
to the brooke belowe Pattaquonch meadows we say all that Land we did grant ot
he sayd Plantasion for we did not intent any of it for Saybrook or any other
Plantasion, Judging it might be but a competency for that plantasion upon which
purchas of the sayd Land for that place the peopell nowe inhabiting at thirty
mile Island weare encouraged to setell themselves and ffammilyes at the sayd
thirty mile Island Plantasion.
"Samuel WILLIS. "Matthew ALLYN. "Wm. WADESWORTH. "Samuel
CORMEN."
Soon after the "settling of the plantation" others joined
the settlers. Among the first of these were Richard WALKLEY from Hartford, John
BATES, and William SCOVIL. In October 1668, the town was invested with privileges
as such, and about that time the name Haddam was given to it, as it is supposed
out of respect to Haddam or Hadham in England.
Desirable persons were admitted by vote of the town to the privileges
of inhabitants and were granted accordingly shares in the common proprietorship
and allotments of land to their individual use. All lands held in individual
fee were taxes on a fixed scale of valuations, which varied from 5 to 20 shillings
per acre according to the availability and situation of the land. The character
of those who proposed to join their society, or indeed who frequented it, was
subject to rigid scrutiny, and a remarkable degree of candor was evinced in their
expressions of disapproval when an undesirable person lingered in their society,
as the following extracts will show. April 10th 1673, it was "agreed by
voate that John SLED and his wife should not be entertained in the town as inhabitants
or resedence and also Goodman CORBE was forwarned not to reseave him into his
hows becose they weare not persones qualified according to Law." Again,
January 1st 1683, the townsmen were ordered "to warne Frederick ELIES and
his wife to departe the towne by the next march inseueing."
On the 11th of February 1686, a patent was granted by the Assembly
to the inhabitants for all the lands of their town that had previously been granted
them and confirming those grants with all their appurtenances and privileges
to them and their heirs and assigns forever. THE SETTLERS AND THEIR HOMES.
At the first, or at the least as soon as some degree of order could
be established, the settlers opened a highway running substantially where the
old country road from the court house to the foot of Walkley Hill now does. Why
they chose such a rough spot of ground it is hard to understand, but the evidences
prove beyond a doubt that here they laid out the "town plot" and built
their houses. Some of the cellars remained visible until within the memory of
persons now living. Nineteen home lots were laid out here, and houses were probably
built on the most of them. For the greater part the lots were nearly uniform,
being about four acres each, and extended from the highway to the river, a distance
of from 80 to 125 rods. Each man also had a lot of about three acres on the opposite
side of the highway from his four acre lot. These lots must have been seven or
eight rods in width on the highway. Those on the east side of the road are all
bounded on the northeast by the "Great River." From data gleaned from
the records, and carefully compared and verified, the writer has arranged a map
of the original town plot. While it is impossible to assert anything in regard
to the definite shapes of the lots, their relative position in regard to each
other, and to other objects specified, is accurate and can be abundantly verified
by the records. Some objects then existing remain to the present time, and help
to locate the whole plot by fixing certain points. The burying ground, without
a doubt, remains where it was then provided for, adjoining the lot of Joseph
ARNOLD. The "highway that leads into the woods" is probably the road
that starts back of the court house and runs westerly up the hill. The other
"highway into the woods" is the road that runs from the old road up
the hill past the residence of Mr. Zachariah BRAINERD and the Methodist church.
Wells' Brook still runs through its primitive gorge. [transcribers note: Map
on accompanying page lists the following names: J. BATES, A. J. HANNISON, J.
PARENTS, A. DEIBLE, John WIATT, Richard JONES, Wm VENTROUS, Wm. CORBEE, Thos.
RICHESON, James BATES, John HANNISON, John PARENTS, Abram DEIBLE; Nicholas ACKLY.
N. ACKLEY, Tho's. SHALLER, John HENERSON, T. B., S. L., SMITH, MINISTER, Parsonage,
G. S., T. S., J. B., D. B., D. C., J. S., S. S., W. C., G. G., J. ARNOLD, R.
P., James WELLS, Samuel BUTLER, John SPENCER, James WELLS, Tho's. BROOKS, Stephen
LUXFORD, Blacksmith sold to John ELDERKIN, First Minister, Parsonage forever,
Gerrard SPENCER, Tho's. SMITH, John BALIE, Daniel BRAINERD, Daniel CONE, Joseph
STANNARD, Simon SMITH, William CLARKE, Geo GATES, Reserved for Burying Ground
and Meeting House, Joseph ARNOLD, Richard PIPER, R. PIPER's home meadow.]
Besides the town plot another settlement was made about a mile southeast.
This was called the Lower Plantation, or sometimes the Lower Town Plot. It extended
along a highway from Mill River southward. A very early record, the date of which,
however, has been lost, states that seven men were at first assigned to this
settlement. Their names were James BATES, William VENTROUS, Abram DEIBLE, Richard
JONES, John HANNISON, Samuel GAINES, and John PARENTS. If these all actually
settled here, but a short time elapsed before changes were made. The accompanying
map, carefully compiled from the earliest existing records, exhibits a few differences.
Richard JONES' lot, for example, was soon in the possession of John CHAPELL,
who sold it to Thomas SPENCER in 1671. The six acre lot of Thomas SHAILER was
sold to John BATE in 1672. Samuel GAINES probably sold his lot at a very early
date, to one of the others, whose name appears on the map, but not on the list.
Of these, there are four: John WYATT, William CORBEE, Thomas RICHESON, and Nicholas
ACKLY. A landing was early established at the mouth of Mill River, and a road
was reserved to go to it across John WYATT's lot.
Returning to the Town Plot, a few facts may be suggested. The home
lot of Samuel BUTLER was soon afterward sold to Richard WALKLEY. The lot was
first laid out for a blacksmith, was given to John ELDERKIN in consideration
of his building a mill. The lot marked for the "First Minister" was
probably given to the gospel messenger who answered to the terms of the reservation.
The "Parsonage forever" lot has been held by the First Ecclesiastical
Society, of Haddam, down to a recent date. The highway that goes to the meadow
and to the river, runs between that lot and the first minister's lot. This parsonage
lot, owning to the conditions of the reservation, could not be old outright,
but was leased by the trustees of the society holding it, August 12th 1859, to
William and James BRAINERD for a term of 999 years. The lot is now owned by Zachariah
BRAINERD. Tradition says that the first blacksmith shop was on the opposite side
from the residence of the late Blinn BRAINERD, and that the name of the blacksmith
was BROOKS.
It has already been seen that the first settlements were made on the
river. The reasons for this are obvious. Some 30 or 40 years later, the people
began to push inland. In the interior and western part of this town, the families
of DICKINSON, HUBBARD, and RAY established themselves. They were followed by
the founders of families bearing the names, LEWIS, HAZELTON, TYLER, HIGGINS,
THOMAS, KNOWLES, BURR, and others. The plain at Cockaponsit presented attractive
field for the settler, and about 1694. Nathaniel SPENCER, John BALY sen., and
Ephraim BALY each had a house lot of eight acres there, besides other parcels
of land. Stephen SMITH, and John, Nathaniel, and Joseph SUTLIFF settled in Haddam
Quarter, which, in 1773, was joined to Durham.
The following extract tells something of the conditions under which
title to their houses were obtained.
"Ordered that every inhabitant of this plantation shall personally
inhabit here upon his land four years from the time of his first comeing hither
before he shall have liberty to sell his land."
DIVISION OF THE LAND.
The settlers made no extensive divisions of the land at first, but
held their cultivated fields, their pastures, and their timber lands in common,
and divided to each individual a home lot, and a few other small parcels of land,
mostly meadows, that seemed most desirable to hold for individual use. The lots
that were distributed in these small allotments were of nearly uniform size.
There were seven of these small divisions, and nearly every settler had a lot
in them all.
The Home Lots in the Town Plot contained about four acres, and those
in the Lower Plantation about eight acres each.
Additional Lots in the Town Plot lay on the opposite side of the highway,
and contained about three acres each.
The Home Meadow lots varied in size from two to five acres, and lay
between the river on the northeast and a common fence on the southwest. The Upper
Division of the Upper Meadow was on the east side of the river, and lay between
the "great rocke" on the northeast and the river on the southwest.
The lots varied in size from three to seven acres.
The Lower Division of the Upper Meadow lay on the east side of the
river between the same bounds on the northeast and southwest as the division
last mentioned. These lots contained two acres or a little more.
The Cove Meadow lay on the east side of the river, between the "great
rocke" on the northeast and the river on the southwest. The lots were about
four acres each.
The Equal Division lay on the east side of the river, between the "great
rocke" on the northeast and the river on the southwest, the lots containing
uniformly three acres each, from which circumstance doubtless it took its name.
The "great rocke" so often mentioned in the boundaries of
the meadows was the ledge or rock-ribbed hill that rises from the inner edge
of the meadows. In these seven divisions the settlers participated, with perhaps
an occasional exception in some of them. Other grants were soon after given for
small parcels of land in Machimoodus and Heganumpos.
Small parcels of the common land were granted to individuals from time
to time as their needs and the favor of the town afforded occasion. Out of the
numerous records of the kind a single example here will suffice to illustrate:
"At a towne meeting February 7th 1667, it was Agreed the Joseph
STANNARD shal have six acres of land given him out of ye Comon land abutting
one the mil river southeast one his owne swamp northeast one ye Common highway
southwest on ye Common land nor'-west, provided that the water passage w'thin
the swamp shall be free for ye touns use."
February 1669, it was ordered that whenever any land was to be given
to any individual, every one should have notice of the proposed grant, and it
should not issue unless every inhabitant assented to it. This resolution appears
to have been too strong for practical application and it was repealed February
5th 1673.
The division of the common land was under discussion at an early day,
and this was resolved upon at a meeting December 11th 1670. Then it was decided
that land should be laid out to individuals so as to make the distribution equal
among the householders. At this time a tract of common land extending one and
a half miles inland from the river was reserved to be held in common forever,
but this reservation was relinquished by action of the town, March 13th 1671.
The decision to lay out all undivided land was confirmed February 7th 1671. Allotments
of land were made according to the valued property of householders.
June 13th 1671, it was decided that a division should be made in which
there should be twenty acres laid out to every hundred pounds valuation. In this
division lots were chosen by individuals as their names were drawn by lot. Simon
SMITH and George GATES were chosen to appraise all the buildings that had been
erected since the first appraisement, and to make a new list of the estate of
each individual as a basis upon which he was to take up land. The choice of location
was drawn in order as follows: "Mr. BATE, George GATES, Thomas BROOKS, parsonage
lot, Daniel BRAINERD, John BALY, WAITES lot, Garird SPENSER, Tho. SPENSER, Steven
LUXFORD, John HENSSON, Joseph STANDRD, Samuell SPENSER, James WELLES, widow BLACHFORD,
Thomas SHAILLER, William CORBE, Mr. NOYES, John BATE, William VENTROUS, Goodman
ACKLEY, Thyme SPENSER, Thomas SMITH, Goodman DYBELL, Dainell CONE, William CLARK,
John PARANES." This was the first general division of common land on the
west side of the river, and it was probably not laid out in a body, but each
man in the order in which his choice occurred was allowed to select twenty acres
to every hundred pounds of his valued estate, wherever he desired to locate it
upon land that was not already taken.
In 1686, the town decided that no more land should be taken up by individuals
on the west side of the river within two and a half miles of the river. This
established a line which is afterward mentioned in records as the "two mile
and a half line."
The "Third Division of Outlands" was ordered by vote of the
town January 27th 1707. It covered a tract of land one mile and sixty rods square,
in the northwest corner of the town, adjoining Durham on the west and Middletown
on the north. It was laid out in thirty lots with the dividing lines running
north and south and a highway running across them from east to west. The lots
were numbered beginning at the east corner. The number of proprietors had now
reached thirty. The survey of this tract seems to have been so carelessly done
that when about seven years later the lots were remeasured more accurately the
whole tract was found to be two miles, 152 rods, two feet, five inches long instead
of one mile and 60 rods.
The "Fifth Division" was ordered by vote of the town, March
13th 1716. It was to include the land encompassed by the northern and southern
bounds of the town and the "two mile and a half line" on the west and
a line running parallel with it one mile from it to the east. The scale upon
which this division was made was fifty acres to the hundred pounds. It was to
be laid out in no regular order, but as the individual selections should determine.
There were 36 drawers.
January 14th 1719, the people in town meeting decided that in the future
division of land every inhabitant, whether he had been a proprietor or not, should
be entitled to a lot according to the appraisement of his estate on the public
list. The list of the estates in this society for that year was as follows:
Capt. James WELLS, £130, 7s.; Elijah BRAINERD, 77, 11; Benjamin
BAILY, 43, 2; Joseph RAY, 3; Daniel HUBBARD, 79; Joseph CLARK, 42; Daniel SPENCER,
30; Benjamin TOWNER, 49; Gerrard SPENCER, 140, 10; John FISKE, 40, 10; Samuel
INGRAM, 36; Thomas SELDEN, 69, 5; John BAILY jun'r, 47, 12; Mr. Simon SMITH,
101, 15; Ens. Moses VENTROUS, 118, 14; Timothy SHALER, 85; Daniel CLARK, 64,
5; John VENTROUS, 66, 10; James RAY, Sen'r, 43; John SPENCER, 19; Azariah DICKISON,
54, 18; James RAY Jun'r, 38; John CLARK, 50, 2, 6; Dea. Thomas BROOKS, 54, 13,
6; Hezekiah BRAINERD, 116, 15; Benjamin SMITH, 100, 15; John BAILY, 58, 10; Lt.
James BRAINERD, 121, 5; Richard WALKLY, 54; Solomon BATE, 62; John BATE, 28,
5; Jonathan BATE, 19, 15; David ARNOLD, 29; Deacon Joseph ARNOLD, 116, 5; Nathaniel
BAILY, 52; Ebenezer ARNOLD, 73, 7, 6; Isaac TYLER, 41, 2, 6; Nathaniel SPENCER,
41, 3; Lieut. Thomas CLARK, 115, 15; John COE, 42; Caleb CONE, 70, 13; Widow
BATE, 49; Nathaniel SMITH, 22, 2, 6; William CLARK, 84, 15; Jonathan ARNOLD,
94; Timothy SPENCER, 60, 10; Caleb BRAINERD, 108, 16; Serg't Thomas SHALER, 105;
Joshua ARNOLD, 45, 12; John ARNOLD, 39, 18, 6; Ephraim BAILY, 25, 17, 6; Joseph
SMITH, 81, 1; William SMITH, 39, 16, 6; Isaac BARTLETT, 18; Timothy WALTERS,
39, 2; Simon SMITH jr., 38; Jonathan SMITH, 18; James BRAINERD jr., 24; Thomas
BROOKS jr., 24; Mr. Phineas FISKE, 64, 11, 6.
A division of land beyond the "two mile and a half line"
was ordered February 29th 1720. This was distributed on the scale of 60 acres
to the 100 pounds. There were 100 who drew lots in this division.
Another division, based on the ratio of 10, 20, or 30 acres to the
100 pounds, according to location of lots, was determined on in 1723, to be laid
out by the 1st of March of that year. There were 100 who drew lots in this distribution.
ESTABLISHING THE BOUNDS.
The lands granted to the settlers of this town by the Indian deed were
not all confirmed to them. It is overlapped on the north some of the land that
had already been confirmed to Middletown, and this of course had to be relinquished.
But the greatest conflict of claims was with Saybrook and Lyme on the south.
The claim of these two towns was based upon a grant of the Legislature to the
old town of Saybrook when it included the territory of the other to extend its
borders four miles further north, making the north line of that town twelve miles
from the sea. This encroached heavily upon the land that Haddam had bought of
the Indians, by the authority of the Legislature. However, the claims of Thirty
Mile Island appear to precede those of Saybrook yet the question caused much
dispute and its final settlement looked more the decision of superior forces
than of impartial justice. Committees were frequently appointed to meet the representatives
of the other towns to negotiate a settlement, and the case was carried to the
General Court, where it received its final decision. February 9th 1667, the town
sent Abram DEIBLE "to goe to Sea-Brooke to treat with them for a meeting
to agree about ye bounds betweene our townes." Some arrangement was undoubtedly
made for on the 27th of the same month the town appointed Gerrard SPENCER, Abram
DEIBLE, and Samuel BUTLER "to treat with Sea Brooke men about ye bounds."
On the 10th of March following the townsmen were directed to send a letter to
the committee to give them a hearing. A hearing was gained, and in May 1668 the
General Court appointed a committee to labor with these plantations" to
gayne a compliance betweene them" &c., before the October meeting of
the court.
June 3d, this town appointed Abram DEIBLE and Richard PIPER to go to
Hartford to meet the committee in behalf of the town. The committee reported
and the General Court accordingly recommended that the line be settled according
to the proposition of Saybrook men, which was a compromise making the north line
of Saybrook and Lyme ten miles from the sea instead of twelve miles as they claimed,
or eight miles as Thirty Mile Island contended they were only entitled to. A
committee was now, October 20th, appointed to join with Saybrook in conference,
the result of which seems to have been an agreement, however reluctant the committee
of this town may have been to consent to it. In the following May the matter
was again before the General Court, the town having on the 5th appointed William
CLARK, to represent them before that body, and if need be to employ counsel.
The court now gave its decision in accordance with the plan already mentioned.
At the same time it granted that the bounds of Haddam should run from the river
on the west six miles in to the wilderness provided it did not interfere with
any other grant previously made. November 31st 1669, the town appointed a committee
of four men to measure the town lines according to the recent decision of the
court. Several attempts were made before this could satisfactorily accomplished,
and we find the town appointing committees at different times to lay out the
bounds. Finally, April 5th 1671, the committees of the two towns, Haddam and
Saybrook, met and ran the line from a point on the river two miles south of the
marked tree that stood twelve miles from the sea, west into the woods. This point
on the river was then near the lower end of Twenty Mile Island.
The controversy with Lyme was nearly the same as that with Saybrook,
and the decision of the General Court had an equal application to it. But a longer
time seems to have been used in obtaining a full settlement of the line. Committees
were appointed at different times in 1669, 1670, and 1673, to accomplish this,
and they finally, May 7th 1673, agreed upon the boundary in the following language:
"that the devident line betwixt our townes shall run from the Great river
beginning in the midel way betwixt the lower point of Mr. CHAPMAN's meadow and
the upper side of the mouth of the Cove above the major LEUERET's farme hows
and so to run east the extent of the bounds of haddam and that the above sayd
devident Line shall e and Continue notwithstanding grantes and Agreements whatever
the diuiding line betwixt our boundes ffor euer."
The line between this town and Killingworth had been an unsettled one
until May 1669, when the General Court decreed that the north line of Killingworth
as far as Haddam extended westward, should be a continuation of the line between
Haddam and Saybrook. In December 1704, some disturbance appears to have arisen
over this matter, which was placed in the hands of a committee, and thus, no
doubt, satisfactorily disposed of. The bounds of Haddam, though by the circumstances
narrated they were contracted on the south, were enlarged on the east by a grant
of the General Court in May 1674, which made the east line of the town a north
line from the southeast corner, which was six miles from the river. A condition
that accompanied this extension, was that the town should grant Mr. Robert CHAPMAN,
fifty acres of land by his house to the northward of his meadow abutting on the
river, and 300 acres besides to be located by the discretion of a committee named
in the grant, in consideration of which Mr. CHAPMAN was to relinquish whatever
claim he had on any other land in the town limits.
In 1675, the General Court appointed Mr. Nathaniel WHITE and Deacon
John HALL to lay out the bounds of Haddam, both east and west, according to the
grants.
In 1705, September 12th, the bounds of Haddam were run by Caleb STANLY
along the Middletown line six miles from the river westward, thence south 38
degrees easterly, being a course nearest parallel with the river, to a point
on the south line of Haddam six miles from the river. This parallel line then
formed the dividing line between this town and Durham. Its course was afterward
changed for the northern part by the annexation of what was called the Haddam
Quarter to Durham, which was done in October 1773.
About the year 1685, a settlement was begun on the east side of the
river, below Salmon River, which increased until it became strong enough to be
made a separate town by the name of East Haddam.
THE TOWN ECCLESIASTICAL.
The history of the town under this caption is necessarily a history
of the First Ecclesiastical Society of Haddam, now represented by the Congregational
church at Haddam Centre. In preparing this sketch the works of Dr. FIELD and
Rev. E. E. LEWIS have been drawn upon for a considerable part of the substance
incorporated in it.
The movements of the settlers for the first few years are enveloped
in much obscurity, but there is evidence to show that the worship of God was
one of the first matters to which they gave attention, and it is without doubt
that the observance of public worship began with this settlement. A private house
was used for this purpose for 10 or 12 years. As has already been seen the proprietors
in all their divisions of land set apart one share for the benefit of the parsonage,
and another share for whoever should be their first minister. It appears that
the Rev. Jonathan WILLOWBY was employed here for a time, but though the first
minister of whom there is any account, he was probably not fully settled, and
therefore did not receive the share that had been set apart for the first minister.
The Rev. Nicholas NOYES succeeded him, and answered the conditions sufficiently
to receive the share referred to. This share, including all the additions that
were from time to time made to it, amounted to over 500 acres, though it is not
probable that Mr. NOYES received all this. Parts of it were held and afterward
given to other ministers.
There is a tradition that the first meeting house was built on a site
about thirty rods below the present county jail, and on the opposite side of
the street.
In February 1667, Joseph ARNOLD gave a part of his home lot for the
site of a house for Mr. WILLOWBY. Documentary evidence uniformly associates the
home lot of Joseph ARNOLD with the burying ground and church site. Before or
soon after completion of his house, Mr. WILLOWBY left, and the house naturally
fell into the possession of the town. Having no other use for it, and having
no meeting house, they used it for that purpose. December 7th 1667, the town
arrived at the following decision, and this is the first record that has been
found touching the subject of building a meeting house:
At the same metting it was a Greed and notted by the in habytantes
that the settled plas whear the meting houes shall be bilt is at the frunt of
the minestryes Lote in the Litell mdowe Lying a gainest the eand o the hom lote
of Joseph ARNULD, that now he swelles in."
The minister's lot here spoken of was probably that whereon Mr. WILLOWBY's
house had been begun, which, as it has been seen, was taken from the home lot
of Joseph ARNOLD. This house was used for the meetings of the tow, and without
doubt for meetings for worship. November 11th 1669, the town voted that Mr. NOYES
should have liberty to take the parsonage for his own use, but before he did
so he should give the town sufficient notice to allow them time to secure another
place to meet in. February 7th 1670, Mr. NOYES accordingly gave the town "warning
to provid themselves a place fit to meet in by this time come two yeare."
The town, November 21st 1670, voted to build a meeting house, and appointed a
committee to attend to it with power to call out the inhabitants to work upon
it in proportion to their several estates as should be decided by the discretion
of the committee. But little if anything was done until February 1673, when a
rate of forty pounds was ordered to be paid in labor or money for the building
of the meeting house, and in March the town contracted with John CLARKE to frame
the building. It was to be 28 feet long, 24 feet wide, and 13 feet between joints,
and in its sides were to be eight windows. May 15th 1674, the townsmen were ordered
to go forward with the work of building, and buy shingles, clapboards and nails
to finish the building.
It was probably completed sufficiently to admit being used during that
year, though it remained in an unfinished condition for several years longer.
Rev. Nicholas NOYES came here in 1668, on a salary of £40, an
the use of the minister's lot, the salary to be paid, "one half in wheat
and Pease, and the other half in Porke and Indian Corne." Several years
later this salary was increased somewhat. By remaining for a term of four years
he became entitled to the lot that had been set apart for the first minister,
and afterward received other parcels of ground. He appears to have been held
in high esteem by the people, who made efforts to retain him longer in this field,
but he withdrew about the year 1682.
About this time the town paid Goodman HENERSON ten shillings for sweeping
the meeting house, and Joseph ARNOLD eight shillings for drumming. This was for
the year 1682.
In January 1683, a committee was sent to New London to solicit Mr.
John JAMES to become minister here. Though but little is known regarding his
ministry here, it is supposed that he came soon after that time and remained
several years, perhaps till 1691.
In the summer of 1691, Rev. Jeremiah HOBART, from Hempstead, Long island,
came here and entered upon the work of the ministry. The town offered him £
salary, and firewood, besides the parsonage lands on both sides of the river,
and a lot of four and a half acres, on which they agreed to build a house for
him. This house was to be 40 feet in length by 18 feet in breadth, and 10 feet
in height of posts. The town went forward with the work of building, and as they
progressed, the item of nails was provided for by selling 20 acres of land at
Moodus to Thomas HUNGERFORD. Mr. HOBART thus became settled as pastor of this
people, though not formally installed. Some difficulties afterward arose, by
which the people became dissatisfied, and in April 1695 they refused to acknowledge
him as their pastor, and applied to the Assembly to be organized into a church
according to the accepted form, which was done in 1796 [transcribers note: This
seems to be an error; date probably should read 1696.]
Their relations with Mr. HOBART, however, were not settled by this
action, and after the mater had occasioned considerable trouble, the Assembly,
in 1698, appointed a committee to investigate and determine the controversy.
That committee met in November, and after deliberating for some time upon the
matter, declared that the agreement that had at first been entered into was still
binding upon each party. This decision was accepted and acted upon, and Mr. HOBART
was accordingly installed as pastor of the newly organized church, in November
1700, he being then 70 years of age. From that time forward, neither he nor the
people seem to have been fully satisfied. His salary remained at £40 a year
and firewood, which was to be cut by the people, every male person in the town
between the ages of 16 and 60 years being required to cut wood one day in the
year for him. In 1705, the quantity allowed him for the year was 80 loads, and
it was to be brought in by the 10th of November. In 1709, he was allowed 40 cords
for the year. There was probably a large faction in the society that was opposed
to Mr. HOBART, and in consequence his salary and the other obligations of the
people to him were not promptly fulfilled; and this annoyed and irritated the
aged minister, whose manner was probably not as conciliatory as might have been
expedient under the circumstances.
In connection with this subject, a glimpse of the records of the town
affords an interesting illustration. In the last end of the first book of town
records, a leaf has been torn out, and the pages that precede it contain a long
account of a difficulty between Mr. HOBART and the town with reference to his
engagement here, in which the decision of a committee of the General Court of
Connecticut was required to adjust the matter. Following the torn leaf is this
curious record, which explains itself:
"Haddam, March ye 6th 1706/7."
"At a meeting of the Towne in Generall both west & east side
inhabitants; Convened together to consider that may be thought adviseable to
be done in order to the unuseall & unthought difficulty which arises in s'd
Town Respecting the Reverend Mr. Jerimiah HOBBARTS tearing out a part of a leaf
out of the ancient Towne book, and for the repairing of the foresaid breach wee
doe unanimously make choice of Cap'tn John CHAPOMAN, Deacon Thomas GATES, deacon
Daniell CONE, Lieut. James WELLS and deacon Thomas BROOKS: who are hereby Impowered
and desired to take all moderate & reliable Methods that the fore s'd Town
book may be made valid and Sufficient to all persons that now are or ever after
Shall be Concerned withs'd Town book. The fore said Inhabitants do oblige themselves
to defray all necessary Charges that the fore s'd Committee shall be att in prosecuting
the above said designe."
The committee report that if the copy of what was torn out can be found
and duly recorded again it shall be valid, or if Mr. HOBART would deliver up
all papers having reference to the record torn out, and would agree not to give
any further trouble to the town or any one in regard to the matters therein contained,
then with Mr. HOBART's acquiescence the town book was to be valid to all intents
and purposes. Mr. HOBART, in his answer, dated March 12th 1706/7, complies with
the arrangement of the committee "in real delf-deniall for peace & loues
sake," and agrees to suppress and destroy all papers that he has that might
give him any advantage over the town to make them any trouble for the lack of
the missing record.
After a period of 24 years' labor with this people Mr. HOBART died
at the age of 85 years, having been assisted for a little more than a year by
a colleague. He attended public worship in the forenoon of Sunday, November 6th
1815, and partook of the sacrament, and during the intermission between services
died suddenly while sitting in his chair.
The ecclesiastical society comprehended the whole people of the town,
on both sides of the river. But toward the close of the century the people of
East Haddam were incorporated as a separate society.
But little is known of the positions occupied in church sittings by
different individuals, nor what difference was paid to wealth, age, or rank,
but that the matter of orderly seating was not ignored may be seen from the following
paragraph, from the minutes of a town meeting in December 1714:
"Capt. James WELLS, Lft, Thomas CLARK, Simon SMITH, Thomas BROOKS,
and Joseph ARNOLD were Chosen a Committee to order where persons should sett
in the meeting hous for the future."
The Rev. Phineas FISK, a graduate of Yale College, was ordained as
colleague of Mr. HOBART, January 27th 1714. The people, in their call to him,
which was acted upon in town meeting, November 15th 1712, enumerated the following
inducements in case he would be their minister until "providentially and
inevitably removed or prevented:" a home lot of six acres; 40 acres on the
neck; 20 acres of timber land; 30 acres from the commons; a hone-hundred-and
fifty-pound (?) right in all the common land; a new house to be built for him,
42 by 19 feet and 16 feet between joints, with a lean-to 10 feet wide the whole
length of the house, a stone cellar and a "stack of chimneys with three
smoakes below and two above in the chamber."-Mr. FISK however to find nails
and glass;--the use of the parsonage lands; one day's work annually from all
the hands and teams in town within a distance of two and a half miles of him;
and in addition to all this a salary of 35 pounds the first year, 45 the second
year and so on to increase until it amounted to 70 pounds a year. The pastorate
of Mr. FISK was a long and pleasant one, harmony prevailing between him and his
people. This salary was increased until in 1736 it reached as high as 110 pounds.
In 1718, the town decided to build a new meeting house. A period of
prosperity seemed to be smiling upon the society, and a house of larger dimensions
was needed. This was to be 36 by 44 feet on the ground and 20 feet between joints,
and it was to be located at "the most convenient place adjoining to the
burying lot." A building committee was appointed in 1819, and a tax of four
pence on the pound was laid upon the list to provide funds for the work. The
house was completed about September 1721. The roof was covered with shingles
two feet long and averaging five inches wide which cost 25 shillings a thousand;
the clap-boards for the sides were four and one-half feet long and six inches
wide, and for them was paid seven shillings a hundred. That the inside was plastered
is probable from the fact that 300 bushels of shells and 4,000 cedar lath were
ordered, the shells doubtless being burned into lime. The church was seated with
pews, and had galleries. Additional pews were afterward put in at different times
to accommodate the wants of an increasing congregation.
The ministry of Mr. FISK closed suddenly by his death, October 17th
1738, when at the age of 55 and in the midst of a career of usefulness and successful
labor.
It was during his pastorate that we find one of the earliest suggestions
of that custom that prevailed in many New England towns, the observance of an
"Election Sermon." It was considered by the town ecclesiastical as
a very proper thing to have religious services and a sermon connected with the
annual election of officer and transaction of important town business. The election
sermon was preached in 1726 by Mr. FISK.
The town very soon appointed a committee to secure the services of
another minister. The Rev. Aaron CLEVELAND was chosen, and negotiations having
terminated satisfactory, he was ordained as pastor of this society on the second
Wednesday of July 1739. He was to receive for settlement, £500 and a yearly
salary of £150, which should be increased £10 every year until it reached
£200. Through the depreciation of currency the salary of Mr. CLEVELAND a
few year later became so small that he could barely subsist upon it, and on his
own motion he was dismissed in 1746.
The house in which Mr. CLEVELAND lived stood at the top of "Jail
Hill" in the corner field on the north side of the Beaver Meadow road and
west side of the road from the school house that intersects the other here. The
remains of a cellar, beneath an apple tree a few rods from the bars, mark the
site of the house.
At the time Mr. CLEVELAND became pastor a change seems to have been
made in the organization of the society. It became more distinct as such, and
perhaps less an integral part of the town political. The society was organized
more perfectly according to law, and its records ere kept subsequently more distinct
from those of the town generally, though still the body politic maintained its
guardianship over the interests of the body ecclesiastic He Lewis Historical
Pub. Co. in 1926 New York.19
TOWN AND CITY OF NORTHAMPTON
Northampton, the county seat of Hampshire County, was first settled by the white
race in 1654. It was established as a town May 14, 1656 from common land called
Nonotuck. June 4, 1685 bounds between Northampton and Springfield established.
June 4, 1701 a strip of common land divided between Northampton and Westfield.
November 12, 1720 bounds between Northampton and Hatfield established. January
5, 1753 part established as Southhampton. September 29, 1778 part established
as Westhampton. September 29, 1778 part annexed as Southampton. June 17, 1785
part included in the new district of Easthampton, April 15, 1850 part
of Hadley annexed. March 12, 1872 bounds between Northampton and Westhampton
established. June 23, 1883, Northámpton incorporated as a city. September
5, 1909 part annexed to Holyoke. April 21, 1914 bounds between Northampton and
East-Hampton established. This city is about five and one-half miles wide (north
and south) by six and one-half miles east and west. Its area is 25.5 square miles
equal to 22,720 acres. Its population in 1920 was 21,951. Net bonded indebtedness
at close of 1924 was $512,000. Tax-rate, $28.10.
The Beginnings-There appears little doubt that the real projectors of the
scheme that finally gave the organization of North-Hampton was John Pynchon,
son of William Pynchon, the founder of Roxbury and Springfield, Elizur Holyoke,
son-in-law of John Pynchon, and Samuel Chapin. Without wearying the reader with
a long original petition, asking for this grant of land, it may be said that
a second petition supplemented the first and this last one, signed by John Pynchon,
Elizur Holyoke and Samuel Chapin, asked that the original prayer be heard, and
stated that twenty-five families at least, were desirous of forming a new settlement,
“many of them,” to use their own words, “of considerable quality
for estates and fit matter for a church when it shall please God to give opportunity
that way ;“ and further on it is stated that “the inducement to us
in these desires is not any sinister respect of our own, but that we, being alone,
by this means may have some more neighborhood in your jurisdiction.”
This petition was granted by the General Court, May 18, 1653 and Messrs. Pynchon,
Holyoke and Chapin were chosen as commissioners to lay out the plantation of
Non-o-tuck. The next important thing was to buy the land in question from the
Indians, and this was accomplished in the same Christian spirit in which Mr.
Pynchon's humane father had dealt with the red men of the forest. The Indians
having sold the land to the proprietors, the title became effective, and October
3, 1653, not two weeks after the close of the sale by the Indians, the proprietors
met at Springfield to confer on future steps to be taken. The twenty-four
proprietors were as follows:
Edward Elmore, Richard Smith, John Gilbert, Wm. Miller, John
Allen, Richard Wekley, Thomas Burnham, Matthias Foot, Thomas
Root, Wm. Clark, Joseph Smith, John Stedman, Jonathan Smith,
Wm. Holton, Robt. Bartlett, John Cole, Nicholas Ackley, John
Webb, Thomas Stedman, Thomas Bird, Wm. James, John North,
Joseph Bird, and James Bird.
In the language of another it may be here repeated:
It is a somewhat singular fact that of the twenty-four petitioners for the settlement
of Non-o-tuck only eight settled here, viz., Edward Elmore, William Miller, Thomas
Root, William Clark, William Holton, Robert Bartlett, John Webb, and William
Janes.
The home-lots of the first settlers were located in the vicinity of what is now
known as Market, Pleasant, King, and Hawley Streets. As the plantation increased,
settlements were next made west of the “old church,” and later south
of Mill River.
The pioneers evidently gave but little attention to the laying out of streets
and it has been said that they were laid out by the cows, the inhabitants building
wherever these animals made a path.
The causes which drove the fugitives from their native country to Plymouth
Rock were still fresh in their minds, and the settlement had hardly been effected
ere a movement was made toward the erection of a house p1 worship. It
was placed under the control of the town, the town voting for the selection of
a minister, his wages, etc. The first meetinghouse was contracted to .be built
by five of the settlers, and to be completed by the middle of April 1655.
March 13, 1657, the town employed an agent “to, obtain a minister, and to
devise means to prevent the excess of liquors and cider from coming to town.”
This commission alone clearly portrays the character of the pioneers of Northampton.
They were religious and temperate, firm in the right, and with strength of character
that rendered them conspicuous. They left their impress upon the following
generations, and the “New England traits of character” have ever been
synonyms with honesty, uprightness, sobriety, and Christianity.
The difficulty with the Indians in later years-the King Philip's war and later
conflicts are treated elsewhere in this work, hence omitted here.
Nicholas may have been one of several young men brought over to America by
William Wadsworth. Daniel Brainerd and Nicholas were pioneers of Haddam CT.
Nicholas had two pieces of land recorded to him in Hartford CT one piece bought
after 1655
and sold on Mar 20 1667/8 to a John Mitchell. The second piece he sold to Nathaniel
Standley in Dec 1663.( the 3 could have been an 8) The street Nicholas lived
on in Hartford became known as Trumbull St. ( one of his great grandchildren
was named Trumbull).
He served as a fire marshall during the time he lived in Hartford.
Nicholas was one of 28 young men who bought land in 1662 at "30 Mile Island"
later called Haddam. Nicholas moved his family to this land in 1667. Nicholas
owned in Haddam a 14 Acre home lot as well as the "little Island at the
lower end of the cove" and a "6 acre lot towards Saybrook. This cove
is where the Salmon River enters the CT River.
At his death his estate showed a valuation of 188-11-00 pounds. He did not leave
a will and on 5 Sept 1695, administration of his estate was granted to his son
John. On 20 Mar 1696 the widow his 2nd wife and his children signed an agreement
giving 12 pounds and the estate she bought to the "house" to his 2nd
wife and to the eldest son John a double share and to each of the other children
a single share.
***
(Another source lists among passengers an Ackley, ON THE TWENTIETH OF MARCH,
1630 a group of men and women, one hundred and forty in number, set sail from
Plymouth, England aboard the good ship, the "Mary and John". It
landed in Nantucket, Massachusetts on the Thirtieth of May, 1630.
They soon settled at Dorchester, Massachusetts. Five years later, a group
of this so-called "Dorchester Company" traveled 110 miles
through the New England wilderness to settle in Windsor, Connecticut, where
a trading post had been established as the first English settlement in the
Connecticut River Valley 26 September, 1633. Surviving the rigors of the
New England winters, Indian hostilities and other challenges, they raised their
families in the staunch Puritan traditions. ***This source is not verifiable
at this point and is only included as possible but not entirely credible.)
WILLIAM SPENCER, of East-Haddam, Conn., was married to Sarah Ackley, daughter
of Nicholas Ackley, of Haddam, one of the first settlers of that town.
ACKLEY, NICHOLAS, was located on lot No. 42 Trumbull street, in Hartford, in
1665, and was chimney viewer in Hartford in 1662--he for a time lived at 30
Mile Island, at the lower end of the Cove, and had a 6 acre lot toward Saybrook.
the sons of Nicholas, settled east of the Connecticut river
Nicholas Ackley was located on lot No. 42, Trumbull Street, Hartford, CT., in
1665. In 1662 he was chimney viewer in Hartford.
In the "Earliest Volume of the Town Votes of Hartford" appears this
record, "It is ordered that evry howse shall have a ladder or tre at Most
who shall reach (within) Two ffoote of the Topp of his howse uppon (the) forfeteur
of fave shillings A mounth for (each) mounth he shall want the same." This
vote gives us a hint only of the duties of a chimney-viewer, but Hinman, in his
"First Puritan Settlers," makes the matter plain, thus--"As the
office of Chimney-viewer is attached to the names of some of the first settlers,
I take the liberty of explaining the cause. Immediately after the organization
of the town of Hartford as a town, or, rather, as a company of land-holders,
a law was enacted that all chimneys should be cleansed by the owner, once in
a month, by a penalty provided by law. Therefore, that the law should be strictly
Page 217
obeyed and carried out by the inhabitants, for several years, a committee of
respectable men (for no others held offices at that day) were appointed to see
that all householders fully obeyed the law. It was also a law that each householder
should provide a ladder for his house, where there was not a tree standing by
his house, which reached within two feet of the top of the chimney. This law
also came within the duties of the viewers of chimneys. At the time these laws
were in force, men were selected to fill every office, high or low, with a single
eye to the fact, that men who held the offices, should be of such a standing
in society, as the men should honor their offices, and not the offices the holders
of them. To effect this object, you find men who had filled a seat at the General
Court, the next year filling the office of Hayward or Chimney-viewer. It was
this practice of our worthy ancestors, which caused an officer--either civil
or military, who held any place of power, to hold on to his titles with a tenacity--that
living or dead--he never lost them."
Nicholas Ackley was one of the twenty-eight young men who, in 1662, bought the
land where the Haddams and some adjoining towns now stand. This purchase was
long denominated "The lands at Thirty Mile Island," from an Island
in Connecticut River which, it was calculated, was thirty miles from its mouth.
The Indians, who reserved for themselves forty acres, together with Thirty Mile
Island, and the right to hunt and fish where they pleased, roamed over the plantation
for many years.
Dr. Field says: "For forty or forty-five years from the time of settlement,
the people were accustomed to carry arms with them to the place of public worship,
that they might be able to defend themselves in case of a sudden attack."
As the men could not have stayed in their homes with guns in their hands all
the rest of the week, it is difficult to conjecture what comfort or security
was left with the women and children. However, we have no account of any serious
mischief to the first planters or their immediate descendants. All the inhabitants
settled, at first, along the western border of the river, in what is now called
Old Haddam. The larger
number of their houses stood near together, on a hill overlooking at the present
day, a landscape of great beauty.
Most of the owners of these lands settled on them in the summer of 1662 or soon
after; but some of the company were so slow in improving their rights that action
was taken by the little colony to prompt them. Nicholas Ackley was one of these
delinquents and he was reminded that he was wanted at Thirty Mile Island, in
a way that resulted in the following promise from him to assure them that he
would in fact become one of them, although it was perhaps, pleasanter to view
chimneys in Hartford:
"This writing made ye eight off November 1666 bindeth me niklis Akly of
harford to come with my ffamely to settle att thirte mille Island by ye twenty
ninth of October next inseuing date hearof ealso to have my part of fence up
yt belongs to my home lot by ye Last of next insueing as of failing hearof to
forfit ten pounds to ye inhabitant of thirte mile Island as witness my hand and
Seall
Nicholas Ackly
witnes James Bate."
Nicholas Ackley appears to have kept this agreement, as he removed from Hartford,
and his name is recorded among the "first settlers at Thirty Mile Island,"
where he had a "six acre lot towards Saybrook," and he owned the little
island near the Cove. Every one of his sons, seven in number, moved to the east
side of the Great River, but he died on the west side. Having settled there nearly
thirty years before, he still kept his home on that side. Dr. Patterson says:
"March 19, 1671-2, Nicholas Ackley and wife Hannah, of Haddam, deeded to
William Spencer, of same town, all their right in land between Sammon River and
Lyme bounds; both divided and undivided. The Hartford probate records show that
he died at Haddam April 29, 1695, and that his 2nd wife, Miriam, survived him
Nicholas ACKLEY and Hannah Ford MITCHEL were married about 1656 in Hartford,
Hartford , Connecticut.3,5,6,7,9,13 LDS has Ca 1655
LDS states Hannah of Hartford, Hartford Co., CT Hannah Ford
MITCHEL was born about 1634 in England.5,6 another source has birth as 1639
U.S./Internat'l Marriage Records, 1340-1980 has year as 1629 one source has
a child named Nicholas born in Hartford CT in 1665 and died in CT no date given
Nicholas ACKLEY and Hannah Ford MITCHEL had the following children:
2 | i. | Nicholas ACKLEY3 was born about 1656.2
He died about 1682. Nicholas is listed in some sources as a son,
however he is more likley a
grandson of unknown parentage.
Ancestry and Family of Sophia Fidelia Hall lists him as Nicholas Jr | 3 | ii. | Benjamin ACKLEY
was born about 1656.2 He
died about 1682. Benjamin is listed in some sources as a son, however
he is more likely a
grandson of unknown parentage.
Ancestry and Family of Sophia Fidelia Hall lists him as a son | +4 | iii. | Hannah ACKLEY. | +5 | iv. | Elizabeth
Mary ACKLEY. | +6 | v. | Sarah ACKLEY. | +7 | vi. | Sgt John
ACKLEY. | +8 | vii. | Thomas ACKLEY. | 9 | viii. | Nathaniel ACKLEY was born about 1666 in
East Haddam, Middlesex , Connecticut.2
LDS has birth as ca 1686, ca 1673, ca 1679, ca 1688
He died on 27 Feb 1710 in East Haddam, Middlesex , Connecticut.3,5,8,15,16,20,21 LDS puts his death date at 1709 He had his estate
probated on 7 Mar 1710 in Haddam, Middlesex, Connecticut.22 Name: Nathaniel Ackley Location: Haddam
Invt. œ130-12-10. Taken 7 March, 1709-10, by Daniel Brainard, Joshua Brainard
and James Parsivall.
I, Nathaniel Ackley of Haddam, do make my last will and testament: I give to
Esther Hungerford œ16 cash. The rest of my estate to be divided into nine
equal parts, to be paid to my brothers' and sister's children: to my brother
John Ackley's children a ninth part, to be divided equally between them; and
so of the rest, to my brother Thomas Ackley (deceased) his children, and to my
sister Elizabeth (deceased) her children. This to be secured in the hands of
my brother Thomas Robinson, to be paid to said children when they come of age.
The rest of the children's part to be put into the hands of the parents, to be
paid to the children when they come of age. I appoint my brother James Ackley
and my brother Thomas Robinson to be executors of this my will.
Witness: Ebenezer Hills, Hannah Rowley, William Spencer, Jr.
Nathaniel X Ackley, ls.
Court Record, Page 8--21 March, 1709-10: Adms. with the will annexed to James
Ackley and Thomas Robinson.
Page 17--3 July, 1710: Whereas, this Court, the 14th of August, 1705, did appoint
John Ackley and Nathaniel Ackley of Haddam to be guardians to Thomas, Job, Hannah
and Anne, four children of Thomas Ackley, late of Haddam, decd, and the sd. Nathaniel
Ackley being lately dead, the sd. John now appears and offers to take the guardianship
upon himself.
Record on File: 14 May, 1711: We the undersigned have received into our hands
both real and personal estate of Thomas Robinson and James Ackley, Adms. to sd.
estate, that doth belong to our children.
William Spencer, Samuel Ackley, Edward X Purple, Thomas Gipson, John Ackley.
Nathaniel never married, on his death in his will he made a individual bequest
to Esther Hungerford (possibly his fiancee and quite certainly the daughter of
Thomas Hungerford.) and left the remainder of his estate which totaled 130 lb,
to be divided into 9 equal portions for each of the children of his 9 brothers
and sisters. | +10 | ix. | Lydia ACKLEY. | +11 | x. | Mary ACKLEY. | +12 | xi. | James ACKLEY Sr. | +13 | xii. | Sgt
Samuel ACKLEY. |
Nicholas ACKLEY and Miriam MOORE were
married in 1680 in Haddam, Middlesex, Connecticut.5,6,8,9 LDS has marriage
date of ca 1656 Miriam MOORE was born about 1630 in
East Hartford, Hartford , Connecticut.5
one source puts birth as 8 Nov 1653 in CT
LDS has of England and date as 1634 She died on 27 Feb 1710.8 |